Dave Kirkpatrick is the owner of RDP Metalworks, a Northumberland company focused on designing and developing retail interiors and manufacturing an array of interiors for clients ranging from pharmaceutical factories and hospitals to retail giants like Fenwick, Harvey Nichols, and Harrods. Whilst much of their interiors work is designed to seamlessly meld into the function and aesthetic of its environment, their manufacturing work for Universal Fibre Optics is a focus-pulling source of light– literally, as they manufacture many of their beautiful chandeliers.
Last year, Kirkpatrick was approached by Neil Osborne of our distributor Mate Tooling Solutions, an independent tooling supplier to the sheet metal and fabrication industry that gives local support to the whole of the UK and Ireland. At the time, Kirkpatrick was spending £4,000 to £8,000 every month on outsourced laser cuts and Osborne was confident that purchasing a Swift-Cut Plasma Cutting Table would not only allow RDP to cut down that expense, but to save time and increase the quality of their craftsmanship as well.
After viewing a video, Kirkpatrick booked in to see a demo of the machine in action here at Swift-Cut Headquarters. He was impressed with the look of the machine, and noted that compared to other plasma cutting machines, “The Swift-Cut is nice and bright and everything’s compact and tidy. It looks professional and looks like it does what it’s supposed to do.” Following the demo, Kirkpatrick took Osborne’s suggestion and purchased a Swift-Cut 2500 with a Hypertherm Powermax 85 there and then at the demo and it was installed 4 weeks later, he says “The stuff we’re doing at the moment, I would’t be able to do without our Swift-Cut machine. It allows me to create what I want to create. I’ll get an image from a designer, and I can create whatever I want to make it happen.”
